Quick Take for Thursday, June 26, 2008 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

Building Sharply on its Lead-in and Gaining Audience from Start to Finish, ABC News' "Hopkins" Opens as the Most-Watched Show in the 10pm Hour, Outdrawing Original Episodes of CBS' "Swingtown" and NBC's "Fear Itself"

In its Season Premiere, "Hopkins" Generates ABC's Top Non-Sports Summer Total Viewer and Adult 18-49 Numbers in the Time Slot Since August 2006

"Hopkins" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Jumping from its lead-in by 2.4 million viewers (5.8 million vs. 3.4 million) and by 77% in Adults 18-49 (1.6/5 vs. 0.9/3), the season premiere of "Hopkins" opened as the most-watched show in Thursday's 10 o'clock hour. ABC's "Hopkins" (5.8 million) outdrew originals CBS' "Swingtown" (5.7 million) and NBC's "Fear Itself" (4.5 million). In addition, the first installment of the 6-part ABC News documentary series, revolving around Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital, also led its CBS and NBC competition in its time slot across each of the key women demographics: W18-34 (1.8/6), W18-49 (2.3/7) and W25-54 (3.1/8).

� With the premiere of "Hopkins" (5.8 million and 1.6/5), ABC delivered considerable increases in Thursday's 10 o'clock hour among viewers and young adults over the prior week (6/19/08 = 3.3 million and 1.1/3) and over the same week last year (6/28/07 = 3.7 million and 1.1/3). In fact, among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, the ABC News program generated the Network's best non-sports numbers in the hour during a summer frame (Memorial Day-Labor Day) since August 2006 � since 8/24/06 and 8/31/06, respectively.

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating trends based on the Live + Same Day data stream may be somewhat distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped from 17% at the same point in 2006-07, up to 25% currently. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.

Source: Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings), 6/26/08.